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Slow Simmered Meat Sauce with Ground Turkey and Italian Sausage

We’ve had a lot of rainy days lately and I have been in the mood to make slow simmered soups, stews, and sauces. I decided to make some pasta for dinner one night so I grabbed some ground turkey from the store and the rest of the ingredients out of my fridge and pantry to make this sauce. It smelled unbelievably good while it simmered in the oven all afternoon. I loved the flavor and texture of this sauce and it tasted fantastic on whole wheat spaghetti. My son and I gobbled it right up. My husband also liked it but thought it would be even better if it was spicier. My daughter doesn’t care fpr pasta so she wasn’t a huge fan. I had plenty of sauce leftover so I put it in a zip lock freezer bag and froze it for another rainy day.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the ground turkey, turkey Italian sausage removed from casings, and the onion. Cook, stirring often to crumble the beef and sausage, for 4-5 minutes. Add the carrots, garlic, dried basil, crushed fennel seeds, dried oregano, crushed red pepper flakes, sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste. Add the chicken stock, tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, and the tomato sauce to the turkey mixture as well as the sugar. Stir until well combined. Cover with a lid and place into the oven for 3-4 hours.

Remove the Dutch oven from the oven. Skim the surface for any fat. Add the chopped basil then taste and re-season if needed. Cook the spaghetti noodles per instructions, drain. Serve the sauce on top of the spaghetti then top with Parmesan and fresh parsley if desired.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the ground turkey, turkey Italian sausage removed from casings, and the onion. Cook, stirring often to crumble the beef and sausage, for 4-5 minutes. Add the carrots, garlic, dried basil, crushed fennel seeds, dried oregano, crushed red pepper flakes, sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste. Add the chicken stock, tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, and the tomato sauce to the turkey mixture as well as the sugar. Stir until well combined. Cover with a lid and place into the oven for 3-4 hours.

Remove the Dutch oven from the oven. Skim the surface for any fat. Add the chopped basil then taste and re-season if needed. Cook the spaghetti noodles per instructions, drain. Serve the sauce on top of the spaghetti then top with Parmesan and fresh parsley if desired.

It has finally stopped raining here Pam and it looks like we are going to miss Titan. Whew! I’ve been making lots of stews and soups too but Wednesday is still pasta night around here so I must try this combination of ground turkey and sausage. What a GREAT idea. Ground turkey needs a little push to bring out its flavor and Italian sausage is just perfect!